21 July 2013

It's been a long time...There's no dramatic or even really interesting story behind my blogging absence. If you follow any of my social networking thingamabobs, you'll gather I've been alive and well. I'm sitting here writing because I wanted to post a recipe, so I decided there's no point in derailing the post with an explanation other than, LIFE. I gratefully appreciate all of you still out there following, reading, and discovering.

A couple of months ago, I stumbled across a very intriguing cracker/cracker crisp in a local Whole Foods. I'm not quite sure how it even happened, as I never stop in the cracker aisle, and the product was hiding down on the bottom shelf - far from a well-marketed, eye-catching, eye-level placement. 1
At $7 a (smallish) bag, I was hesitant, but I was too curious about a gluten free, grain free, vegan cracker - or more appropriately, crisp.2 Ten minutes later I was strolling out with those $7 crisps clutched in my hand. Again, being too curious, I busted open that bag before I even started the car.3
Yum.
The bag did manage to reach the house, but once there, the bf quickly helped to polish off the rest of the crisps. Seeing the scanty cinnamon-crumb remains at the bottom of the empty bag was mildly heartbreaking. I knew full well there was no way I was going to keep myself/us in crisps at their going rate, so I flipped over the bag to take another inventory of the ingredients. Well, well... it just so happened that nearly every ingredient was a staple in my pantry.

I winged it. The first batch came out perfect4, although I needed to roll them just a bit thinner.5 I took care of that the second time round, and this is what happened...

I went for the cinnamon version first, which I think is my favourite, using coconut palm sugar as the sweetener. I've since made rosemary herb, plain sea salt, and cheezey versions.
Once you have the base for the cracker crisp, you can get crazy
creative. The bf said that my cinnamon crisps are not as sweet as the store-bought,6 which is totally fine with me. If you'd like them sweeter, add a bit more sweetener to the cinnamon-topping and/or add a bit of sweetener to the dough.

Up close and personal**and now my devious, super-villain mind has this song stuck in it.

2) Line a rectangular baking sheet or shallow pan with parchment paper.

3) In a mixing bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients.

4) Add water and olive oil to dry ingredients. Mix well. Once the dough begins to come together, use your hands to knead the dough into a smooth ball.

5) Turn the dough onto the parchment-lined pan, and gently begin to press out the dough into a flat rectangular shape.

6) Cover the dough with another sheet of parchment paper, and roll out to approximately 2mm thickness (thicker will lead to a denser, somewhat tougher cracker). As you roll, even out edges with a pizza cutter or sharp knife. It may be necessary to periodically reposition the top piece of parchment.
*If your pan has edges, you can set the parchment on a table or other flat surface, taking care to roll out the dough within the dimensions of the pan.

7) Once the dough is rolled out to a uniform thickness, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top, using your fingers or the back of a spoon to evenly distribute the mixture all the way to the edges.

8) Bake the crisps for 8-10 minutes, then remove the pan to slice the dough into approximately 1 1/2 inch square crackers. I used a pizza cutter for ease, but a sharp knife should also suffice. Return the crisps to the oven for 10-12 more minutes or until crisp and the cinnamon sugar has mostly caramelized.

Allow the crisps to cool for at least 10-15 minutes. Store them in an airtight container, if they last that long.

ENJOY!

1. Might want to reconsider that, WF. 2. I admit, the word "skinny"in the label drew me in - diabolically clever marketing!3. And came really close to becoming one of those annoying people that takes 45 minutes to pull out of a parking space. You know the ones; they're busy texting, checking their messages, putting on makeup, changing their clothes, brushing their teeth, bidding on Ebay, blogging...4. I'm an evil genius, in case you didn't know. I even happen to have an assessment attesting to this from when I was four years old. Seriously.5. Fine. Almost perfect.6. Not particularly surprising.